Vietnam through international visitors' eyes

In the first half of this year, many Vietnamese tourism sites were cited by the international mass media as among the world's best, serving as a source of pride and encouragement for those directly involved in the tourism industry.

Trip Advisor - the world's premiere tourism website - selected Hanoi as one of top ten must-see travel destinations in 2014.

Ha Long Bay ranked fourth among the eight most beautiful sites in the world by Mymodernmet.com (the US) and was cited as one of 26 places that appeared to have arisen out of a fairy tale by the US-based website BuzzFeed.

The UNESCO-recognised bay was also listed among the top eight green spaces/ national parks in Asia by Agoda.com, one of the continent's leading hotel booking websites.

The New York Times ranked Quang Binh eighth among 52 ideal destinations for visitors in 2014 while the US-based Business Insider and the National Geographic (Russian language version) selected Quang Binh's Son Doong as one of 12 most impressive caves and an adventure tour in the world in 2014.

The travel column of UK newspaper "The Telegraph" named Danang's Ba Na cable car system on its list of ten amazing cable cars around the world.

Serene Hanoi, Holiday Diamond Hue and Essence Hanoi were among Trip Advisor's 25 best hotels worldwide.

Marriott Hanoi was awarded the Best New Hotel Construction and Design in the Asia-Pacific region at the 2014 International Property Awards.

Thua Thien-Hue was honored as an ASEAN City of Culture in the 2014-2015.

The UK magazine Rough Guides viewed Hoi An ancient town - a world cultural heritage site in the central province of Quang Nam - as one of the 20 most interesting places in the world to explore at night.

Nha Trang was chosen as one of the most ideal destinations for 2014 summer by a prestigious travel website Price of Travel.

La Maison 1888 Restaurant at InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort reached the top four most beautiful restaurants in the world, according to New York Daily and the Daily Meal.

The selection testifies to the fact that Vietnam is an ideal tourist destination for foreign visitors.

In the first half of this year, Vietnam received more than 4.28 million foreign visitors (up 21% against the same period last year) and 23.4 million domestic holiday-makers (up 7%), grossing VND125 trillion in total revenue (up 22%).

(Source: VOV News)